Barbara Stoddard, a local witch, hands out candy to Conner Jurgensen, 14, who is dressed as a clown for Halloween, during the downtown Trick-or-Treat Street on Saturday. Downtown businesses handed candy out during the event on Yampa Avenue.

When Aislynn Staudt, 2, tried on her Tinkerbell costume the morning of Halloween, something was wrong.

Her mother, Shannon Staudt, heard her calling for help from the other room.

"Mom, help," Aislynn said, waving her wand. "I can't fly."

Shannon laughed recalling all of the preparations that went into dressing her family of five.

"I think we went through about 20 costumes with her," she said. "We looked at princesses, fairies ... but she had to be Tinkerbell. I think she thought when she put the costume on she'd actually be able to fly."

As the sun began to set on a mild fall afternoon in downtown Craig, the Staudts joined hundreds of other Tinkerbells, ninjas, pirates and robots as they roamed up and down Yampa Avenue collecting candy from downtown businesses.

Trick-or-Treat Street, an annual public Halloween event, packed the sidewalks for two hours Saturday evening as children of all ages and their families moved from business to business.

The Staudts were one family that proved Halloween spirit can be enjoyed at any age.

"I get excited about two weeks before Halloween," Shannon Staudt said. "I just love getting into it and all the preparations."

Preparing means letting her three children pick out their own costumes: Aislynn's Tinkerbell costume, a "Yo Gabba!" character for 2-year-old Zoe and a ninja outfit for 8-year-old Gavin.

Shannon and her husband, Scott, dressed as a couple from Roman times.

Gavin said he liked ninjas because they could do things that regular people couldn't.

"They can walk on walls and stuff," he said.

But unlike his sister, he realized he might only have limited powers, even in his ninja costume.

"I can only walk on walls a little," he said.

As children made their way through the streets Saturday tripping on dress hems and blinded by oversized masks, their parents followed dutifully and directed them toward the candy providers.

Mothers like Ashley Harris, of Craig, gave up an evening of fun to bring their infants out into the sea of colorful costumes.

Even at 8 months old, Aidan River Harris was mesmerized by the array of people and costumes from his vantage point in a baby carrier on Harris' chest.

"He's been giggling a lot," she said. "I think he just really likes looking at all the people and colors."

Her friend, Samantha Hinkel, also carried an infant on her hip. Four-month-old Connor was dressed as a monkey with a half-peeled banana on his head.

"Just a minute ago he saw another baby dressed as a monkey," Hinkel said. "He recognized it and smiled and waved."

Still, the women want their own Halloween and are planning on taking a night off next week to dress up and go out.

"We love Halloween," Harris said. "We'd dress up every day if we could."

Even though the little supermans can't fly and the transformers can't really turn into cars, the magic of the Halloween illusion was enough for most of the children that walked the sidewalks.

Tracey Lathrop, of Craig, walked her granddaughter, Hannah Jenkins, 4, down Yampa Avenue while making sure to keep her princess dress clean and her tiara in place.

"It's about dressing up and having fun," Lathrop said. "It's so about the kids."

As Hannah handed her grandmother a Tootsie Roll from her pumpkin bag, Lathrop asked her why she wanted to be a princess for Halloween this year.

More like this story

Comments

I totally love this event as does my daughter, I think it is very generous of the merchants to put on this show that has grown significantly over the years and I thank them for their time and effort.

However, I have one concern:
If they can shut down the street for Grand Ol' Wet days, parades, car shows, etc..., why can't they shut it down for three hours for this event? With hundreds of our children, some in costumes with limited vision, it would make sense to detour traffic around this growing event before someone gets hurt...or worse. Thankfully that has not happened.
One ripe sheep laden semi, turning north onto Yampa from Victory, forced a whole line of cars to back up(simultaneously stalling two lanes of traffic on westbound Victory)which caused a bit of havoc with kids, parents and traffic maneuvering around it while it sat...waiting for southbound Yampa traffic to get out of it's way.
C'mon CDOT, you shut down the street for all the other events, why not for our most prized and precious possessions?
Not whining, just wondering.

OH Man Dave, now your stirring the pot again and bringing up one of the reasons that someone else complained about truckers not using the bypass!!
I think you've made a very good point and backed the woman who wrote the letter to the editor this summer or when ever it was. It can be a major safety issue for these trucks to be on our downtown streets.
We all know that delievery trucks have to be on these streets, but the ones just "passing through" should use the bypass.

My comments were not necessarily reflecting on the fact that trucks should not be allowed through downtown, it was regarding this one event. Close it for the rest but not for the trick-or-treat event? It's only a matter of time before an accident occurs at this event, which has grown tremendously since it's inception.
I do agree though, the bypass needs completed. Check out any satellite map program, start where old Victory stabs into Hwy 40 just after the electric company and follow it through the fields until it meets up with stock drive. From there it's already built. Just my opinion.

Just my two cents but Steamboat has the same trick or treat downtown like we do only difference is that they close main street down. I agree with david that they need to do something. Better safe then sorry. also the old highway stockdrive route, not a good idea. there is a very STEEP hill and VERY sharp turn/ corner that i dont think semis could make. There have been several accidents on that corner (9th street and haughey.)